Displaying items by tag: Consumption

Democratic Republic of Congo: Provision data from the Banque Centrale du Congo (BCC) shows that local cement production grew by 24% year-on-year to 531,000t for the first half of 2018 from 428,000t in the same period in 2017. Consumption grew by 43% to 539,000t from 378,000t. The country currently has a cement import ban in place and no exports have been recorded by the BCC since mid-2015.

Dominican Republic: The Dominican Association of Portland Cement Producers (ADOCEM) says that the local industry is on track for 4.1% year-on-year growth in cement consumption in 2018. This follows a decrease of 2% in 2017, according to the Acento newspaper. The association’s president Rayza Rodriguez forecast the growth was likely to continue in the short to medium term.

Spain: Jesus Ortiz, the president of Oficemen, says that the local market has ‘worrying’ levels of uncertainty. His comments follow a reduction in cement consumption growth since 2017 and falling export markets. The Spanish cement associaton is concerned that growth has mainly been driven by residential construction. The Cement Demand Index (IDC) grew by 8.5% year-on-year in September 2018 but this was a slight decline month-on-month. From October 2017 to September 2018 an estimated 13Mt of cement was consumed, a rise of 1Mt from the previous year. However, exports have fallen conscutively over the last year and a half.

Angola: Manuel Pacavira Júnior, the chairman of the Angolan Cement Industry Association (AICA) does not believe that the cement production utilisation rate in the country will reach 30% in 2018. Pacavira Júnior described the situation as one of ‘significant losses’ given that local producers are suffering from high operating costs, according to the Angola Press Agency. The country has a cement production capacity of 8.6Mt/yr but it only consumed 2.6Mt in 2017. This follows cement production of 3.87Mt in 2016, 5.2Mt in 2015 and 4.92Mt in 2.14. The five local producers are continuning to operate but at reduced levels due to the poor market. They are looking to build their export markets.

Pakistan: Overall cement sales in Pakistan fell by 2% year-on-year to 7Mt in the first two months of the current fiscal year, which began on 1 July 2018. Domestic sales dropped by 5.3% to 5.9Mt, while exports increased by 21.5% to 1.1Mt.

A spokesperson from the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) said that the industry had been expecting slower growth at home but had not expected a contraction. He added that in July 2018 overall sales had grown by 5% but they fell by 8% in August 2018.

Argentina: Both the sale and consumption of cement grew by 17% in August 2018 compared to July 2018, according to the national government. With sales of 1.1Mt, August 2018 also grew 0.1% compared to August 2017.

"The August figures are very positive in this economic context, which shows that construction, public and private, continues to advance,” said Guillermo Dietrich, Minister of Transportation. “The sale of cement maintains the same values as in August 2017, setting a historical record. We are facing the most ambitious infrastructure plan in history and that does not stop."

Vietnam: The Vietnamese cement sector exported 2.01Mt of cement in August 2018, a 44% year-on-year increase but 90,000t less than in July 2018. During the first eight months of 2018, cement exports reached 20.1Mt, exceeding the whole year target of 18-19Mt, according to the Ministry of Construction’s Building Material Department (BMD).

Total production stood at 63.9Mt in the first eight months, a year-on-year increase of 30%. The domestic market consumed 43.8Mt. According to the BMD, the industry is likely to reach its consumption target of 65-66Mt in the domestic market for the whole of 2018.

On top of Vietnam’s current large cement capacity, the list of cement projects that are expected to come into operation after 2018 include some very large capacity projects. These include Sông Lam Cement’s production lines 3 and 4 with a total capacity of 3.8Mt/yr, Thái Nguyên Group’s Hà Tiên Cement Project in Bình Phước with an annual capacity of 4.5Mt/yr and the Tân Thắng Cement Project in Nghệ An Province with an annual capacity of 1.8Mt/yr.

Morocco: Cement consumption in Morocco was higher in July 2018 than for any July since 2012 at 1.3Mt, a 0.1Mt (7.8%) year-on-year increase.

The upturn was reported by local press as having been expected by cement companies, which now hope to finish the year level or even slightly up on 2017, if conditions remain favourable.

According to data provided by the Professional Association of Cement Manufacturers (PCA), 10 out of 12 regions saw consumption increase in July 2018. Increases range from 0.33% for Oriental to 40.55% for Guelmim-Oued Noun.

Casablanca-Settat still has the lion's share of Moroccan cement consumption. The region was able to absorb 282,680t, an increase of 3.8% year-on-year. This zone was followed by Marrakech-Safi, which its volumes sold rise by nearly 21% compared to July 2017, thus accumulating 180,131t.

Germany: The German Cement Works Association (VDZ) says that cement consumption grew by 4.8% year-on-year to 28.8Mt in 2017. It has attributed this boost to higher investments in new construction work and acknowledged the benefits of good weather. However, the association expects much less growth in 2018.

Data from the German Federal Statistical Office indicates that domestic demand for cement was almost completely covered by German-based producers in 2017. Only 1.6Mt of cement or 5.4% had to be imported. This figure has increased slightly compared to the preceding years. The same applies to cement exports, which rose by 1.6% to a total of around 6.2Mt.

"Potential for growth is still evident in certain construction sectors. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to exploit this as we are reaching capacity limits in the construction industry," said VDZ president Christian Knell.

India: Credit rating agency ICRA has said that the demand for cement in India is likely to grow by around 6% in the current financial year, which ends on 31 March 2019. In its latest report on the sector, it said this would be due to a pick-up in the affordable and rural housing segment and infrastructure, primarily in road and irrigation projects.